Field
Exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to semiconductor devices and methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the invention relate to oxide semiconductor devices including protection structures, and methods of manufacturing the oxide semiconductor devices including the protection structures.
Discussion of the Background
A conventional tin film transistor (“TFT”) having a bottom gate configuration generally includes a gate electrode disposed on a substrate, a gate insulation layer disposed on the gate insulation layer, a source electrode and a drain electrode disposed on the gate insulation layer, and an active layer among the gate insulation layer, the source electrode, and the drain electrode. The source electrode and the drain electrode may make contact with a source region and a drain region of the active layer.
In the formation of the conventional transistor having a bottom gate configuration, moisture and/or hydrogen may be permeated into the structures of the transistor such that the electrical characteristics of the transistor may be easily degraded. For example, variation of the threshold voltage (Vth) of the transistor may be caused by moisture and/or hydrogen, so that the transistor may have degraded electrical characteristics, such as an increase of the threshold voltage distribution, a decrease of the driving current, etc. In particular, the conventional oxide semiconductor device, which includes an active layer of oxide semiconductor, may be relatively sensitive to moisture and/or hydrogen, and thus, the electrical characteristics of the oxide semiconductor device may be easily degraded. Such a degraded oxide semiconductor device may not be properly employed in recent display devices, such as liquid crystal display devices, organic light emitting display devices, etc.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the inventive concept, and, therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.